Sports

The same week Winnipeg welcomes back the NHL, Kenora is saying goodbye to senior AAA hockey.

After five years, two berths in the Renwick Cup championships and hosting duties for the 2011 Allan Cup tournament, Kenora's senior AAA Thistles are calling it a day.

"I've been giving it a lot of thought over the winter, with the Allan Cup swinging through town, it was great to see but, for me anyways, it's time to hang 'em up," head coach and team, manager Ryan Reynard said Wednesday.

After a 17 year absence, senior hockey returned in 2006 when Reynard and a handful of players banded together to form a club with the aims of bringing competitive hockey to Kenora the same year the city celebrated the centennial of its 1907 Stanley Cup win.

But right from the get go, the club had its struggles.

Ice time in Kenora comes sparingly, leaving the senior's little to no practice time as the club struggled to build a system competitive with teams playing 40-game seasons.

In its inaugural season, Kenora was to host the Renwick Cup after the Thunder Bay senior club folded but a lack of available ice time saw the championships yanked and forked over to the Whitby Dunlops, who promptly swept the Thistles in two games for a berth in the 2007 Allan Cup.

In addition to ice woes, the club faced constant struggles to carry enough players on road trips and generate consistent sponsorship dollars to bring competitive teams to Kenora.

This last season, the club took a $7,000 bath when it put up the Penticton Vees for a weekend series in March.

"The fan support that we had is great, we appreciate those dedicated fans," said Reynard. "Unfortunately, we rely heavily on sponsorships and with the Allan Cup coming in last year, the Allan Cup committee took a couple of our sponsors we've had for a couple years.

"We didn't get anything out of that tournament, we didn't see a dime, so that put additional challenges on us financially."

After nearly a half-dozen years at the reigns, Reynard said the administration headaches began to take their toll.

"Senior hockey, it doesn't really get the respect that it deserves from Hockey Canada or HNO (Hockey Northwestern Ontario), in the Kenora area anyway," he said. "Administratively, it's so much work. Every time you go play, you've got to find out how many guys are able to go, you've got guys that are working, guys that can't make it. You've got to put a team together, you've got to get the guys there, rent a bus or we end up paying mileage for out of town guys.

"All those things add up over the course of the year and it gets to the point where you get volunteer fatigue."

While the club could carry on with new management, Reynard said it doesn't look like anyone will step in and take over at the helm.

After only the second season - which included an 11-game unbeaten streak - the club was already on a shaky foundation and Reynard admitted the club nearly folded after the 2010 campaign but the announcement the Allan Cup tournament was headed to Kenora breathed another year of life into the club.

Though bumped from the championship tournament early with a win and two losses - including a 5-3 loss to rival Fort Frances - Reynard said the club held its head high and, ultimately, achieved its goal.

"I think we did ourselves and the community proud," he said. "I think we competed and we showed we've got a good bunch of hockey players here."